Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to allocate to Tamil Nadu, 1,721 MW of power the Delhi Government proposes to surrender to the Centre from November 1 to March 31.
In a letter on Tuesday, the Chief Minister stated that the Delhi Government proposed to surrender power from various Central generating stations at the rate of 230 MW round-the-clock and 1,491 MW between midnight and 6 a.m.
She recalled the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) Chairman-cum-Managing Director’s request to the Union Minister of Power for reallocating the entire quantum of surrendered power to the State, and arranging to provide necessary corridor on priority basis for utilising the power.
Ms. Jayalalithaa explained: “There is a severe shortage of power in Tamil Nadu due to the failure of the southwest monsoon and the constraints we face in buying power from sources outside the southern region owing to corridor congestion.
“In view of the demand – supply gap of about 4,000 MW, which is the highest in the southern region, widespread load shedding is being resorted to, causing severe hardship to consumers. The agriculture sector has also been among the worst hit due to the failure of monsoon and inadequate power supply, thereby affecting food production.”
She pointed out that the deficit situation had aggravated due to corridor congestion and recalled her repeated requests to Dr. Singh seeking his urgent intervention to ensure that the required quantum of 1,000 MW of power transmission capacity was made available to the State for receiving the power contracted by the TANGEDCO.
Despite several letters to the Prime Minister about acute power shortage, and the necessity for additional power of 1,000 MW, a meagre 100 MW was allocated, out of which only about 78 MW was being made available to the State, she lamented.
